3288: She works in a seniors’ home, cooks pork and serves wine

I live in the west. I study during the day; this is why I searched for a job to do during the night out of need; as my father does not have the ability to pay for my study. I am the only muslim working in the kitchen of this elderly home. I have to cook pork and pour wine into cups. What is the ruling on my work, bearing in mind that I looked for work in other places but they refused to hire me because I wear hejab?.

Praise be to Allaah.

Firstly:

Allaah has prescribed rulings in Islam that are based on
wisdom. The rulings are aimed at setting individuals and societies straight.
The one who goes against these rulings exposes himself to punishment in the
Hereafter and he may be punished in this world before that.

We are not going to discuss the greatness of Allaah’s wisdom
in His laws, rather we have to introduce our answer in this way because of
the sister’s question, asking for the ruling on her studies or her work. She
is living among the kuffaar, in their country, and they are causing trouble
for her because of her religious commitment. How much pressure is this
Muslim woman and many others like her living with? When will fathers and
mothers pay attention and wake up from their heedlessness, and leave those
lands which have caused many to lose their religion and identity? You will
find that there are many wise people who regret paying too much attention to
accumulating money at the expense of their religion and honour.

Secondly:

Staying in kaafir countries is haraam for the one who is
unable to practice his religion openly or who is afraid that he may be led
astray from his religion. See the answers to questions no.
27211,
14235 and
3225.

Thirdly:

Your studying in that country is undoubtedly in a mixed
environment, and there is no doubt that you are seeing sins and immorality
in those places, which pains the heart of the chaste Muslim. If studying in
a Muslim country is in a mixed environment it is not permissible, so how can
it be permissible in a kaafir country?

The scholars of the Standing Committee for Issuing Fatwas
said:

For a woman to study shar’i knowledge and other fields which
a woman needs to know or which will help her to know matters of her religion
is something that is prescribed, so long as it will not result in anything
that is not allowed in sharee’ah. But if it will result in something that is
forbidden in sharee’ah, such as mixing with non-mahram men or not observing
hijab, then it is not permissible, because these are haraam things, and
because that will lead to corruption. End quote.

Mixing between men and women in schools and elsewhere is a
great evil and leads to great corruption in religious and worldly terms. It
is not permissible for a woman to study or work in a place where men and
women mix, and it is not permissible for her guardian to allow her to do so.
End quote.

Your working in the seniors’ home is also haraam, because it
involves mixing with men; and because it involves making food using pork,
which Allaah has stated is haraam, and it is also haraam according to the
Sunnah and scholarly consensus; and because it involves serving wine which
is also haraam according to the Qur’aan, Sunnah and scholarly consensus.

The scholars of the Standing Committee said:

It is not permissible for a woman to work with men who are
not her mahrams, because of the evils that result from her presence with
them. She has to seek provision through ways that do not involve anything
haraam. If a person fears Allaah, He will make things easy for him. The
Committee has issued a fatwa concerning that, the text of which is as
follows:

As for the mixing of women with men in factories and offices,
in non-Muslim countries, it is not permissible. But they have something that
is worse than that, which is disbelief in Allaah, so it is no surprise that
such evils occur among them. As for women mixing with men in Muslim
countries, at the time when they are Muslim, that is also haraam. The
authorities in the places where this mixing occurs must take steps to put
the women in one place and the men in another, because of the moral
corruption that results from mixing, as is obvious to anyone who has the
slightest insight. End quote.